Campus Alert Archive
Wellesley

On the Morning After the 2016 Election, Two Babson Students Drove Up to Wellesley's African American Cultural House Shouting Trump Slogans

MAthreat of violenceadvisorymedium confidence
Confirmed Threat

On Wednesday, November 9, 2016, the day after the 2016 presidential election, two Babson College students drove around the Wellesley College campus shouting slogans from Donald Trump's campaign and stopped at Harambee House, Wellesley's African American cultural house. Witnesses reported the men shouted at and harassed students of color, with one student reporting being spit at. Wellesley College President Paula Johnson released a campus-wide statement that day, and Babson President Kerry Healy followed with a forwarded apology.

Alerts
2
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Wellesley College
Private Liberal Arts · MA
~2,400 studentsWellesley Emergency Alert (Rave Mobile Safety)
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

2 messages in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from The Wellesley News and Elite Daily reporting on Wellesley Public Safety's initial campus advisory after the Harambee House incident362 chars
Wellesley Notice: Wellesley Public Safety has received reports that two non-Wellesley individuals drove through campus today shouting at students near Harambee House. The individuals have left campus. We are working with Babson College and outside law enforcement. Students who were affected or who have additional information are urged to contact Public Safety.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The Wellesley advisory was not a Clery emergency notification — there was no continuing threat once the suspects had left campus — but a discretionary 'community advisory' under 668.46(g) standards
Harambee House is Wellesley's [African American cultural center](https://www.wellesley.edu/w100/harambee-house) — its targeting in the incident transformed what could have been a generic harassment into a [hate-crime allegation](https://thewellesleynews.com/6910/news-investigation/wellesley-community-shaken-after-alleged-hate-crime-perpetrated-by-babson-students/)
The day-after-the-election context is part of the historical record — political violence and harassment spiked nationally on November 9, 2016 in ways the Anti-Defamation League and SPLC documented at the time
FOLLOW-UPEmail
Verified verbatimExcerpt from Wellesley College President Paula Johnson's November 9, 2016 campus-wide message, quoted in The Wellesley News91 chars
This community's well-being—and all that word encompasses—is foremost on my mind right now.
Johnson's letter — issued on her first major test as president (she had begun her tenure on July 1, 2016) — opened with this line, which The Wellesley News reproduced verbatim
The phrase 'this community's well-being' folded all members of the Wellesley community into the institutional response without prejudging the Babson investigation that was concurrently underway
Wellesley's full alert track on November 9 had two parts: the campus advisory from Public Safety (sequence 1) and Johnson's community letter (this sequence) — only the Johnson sentence is publicly archived in verbatim form
Babson President Kerry Healy's forwarded apology, included in Johnson's communication, is reported in The Boston Globe but not preserved in verbatim form
Context

Background

Wellesley College is a private liberal arts women's college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, founded in 1870, and one of the original Seven Sisters colleges). With approximately 2,400 students, Wellesley has long been associated with women's leadership in US public life — Hillary Clinton ('69), Madeleine Albright ('59), and Soong Mei-ling ('17) are alumnae. On Wednesday, November 9, 2016 — the morning after the 2016 presidential election — two students from neighboring Babson College drove around the Wellesley campus shouting slogans from Donald Trump's campaign. They stopped at Harambee House, Wellesley's African American cultural house, and according to witnesses, harassed students of color and spit at one student. Wellesley Public Safety issued a campus advisory that afternoon, and President Paula Johnson followed with a campus-wide email that included a forwarded statement from Babson President Kerry Healy. Babson initially banned the two students from campus — identified as Edward Tomasso and Parker Rand-Ricciardi — but later cleared them of wrongdoing and lifted the ban after an investigation. The case is significant for the campus alert archive because it documents a politically charged hate-incident advisory at a women's college on the morning after a US presidential election — the kind of community-advisory message that does not meet Clery emergency-notification thresholds but is nevertheless a defining feature of modern campus communications. It is also a rare cross-institutional alert: the suspects were students of one institution at the campus of another, requiring two presidents to coordinate the response.
Analysis

Key Findings

The incident occurred on November 9, 2016 — the day after the US presidential election — and is a documented example of post-election harassment targeting a women's college's African American cultural center
The Wellesley advisory and President Johnson's campus-wide message were issued the same day, illustrating the rapid 'community advisory' track for non-Clery hate incidents
The two suspects were Babson College students at a Wellesley site, producing an unusual cross-institutional alert with both presidents coordinating messaging
Babson initially banned the students and later cleared them; the divergence between Wellesley's framing of 'hate crime' and Babson's eventual 'no wrongdoing' finding became a continuing point of community contention
Harambee House was the symbolic and physical target — its specific identification as Wellesley's African American cultural center transformed the incident from harassment to alleged hate-targeting
Outcome
Babson College launched an immediate investigation and initially banned the two students, identified as Edward Tomasso and Parker Rand-Ricciardi, from campus. Both were expelled from their fraternity, Sigma Phi Epsilon. In December 2016 Babson [cleared the two students of any disciplinary violations](https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/babson-students-cleared-of-wrongdoing-in-trump-taunts-at-wellesley-college/85993/), finding that available evidence did not substantiate spitting or slur allegations and that the underlying speech was protected; the [campus ban was lifted](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/babson-lifts-ban-on-donald-trump-supporting-students/). The Wellesley student government and student-of-color organizations called for the students' permanent removal from Babson. No physical injuries were reported.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
    Wellesley Community shaken after alleged hate crime perpetrated by Babson students - The Wellesley News
    thewellesleynews.com
  2. News
    Two Men Harass Wellesley Students Following Donald Trump's Win - Elite Daily
    elitedaily.com
  3. News
    Babson College lifts ban on 2 Trump supporting-students; lawyer wants apology - CBS News
    cbsnews.com
  4. News
    Babson Students Cleared of Wrongdoing in Trump Taunts at Wellesley College - NBC Boston
    nbcboston.com
  5. Official
    Harambee House - Wellesley College
    wellesley.edu
  6. Official
    Harambee House records - Wellesley College Archives
    archives.wellesley.edu
Tags
threat-of-violencehate-incidentwomens-collegeseven-sistersprivate-liberal-artsmassachusettspost-electionharambee-housewellesleycross-institutional
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion